The history of Spain dates to contact between the pre-Roman peoples of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula with the Greeks and Phoenicians. During Classical Antiquity, the peninsula was the site of multiple successive colonizations of Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans. Native peoples of the peninsula, such as the Tartessos, intermingled with the colonizers to create a uniquely Iberian culture. The Romans referred to the entire peninsula as Hispania, from which the name "Spain" originates. As was the rest of the Western Roman Empire, Spain was subject to numerous invasions of Germanic tribes during the 4th and 5th centuries AD, resulting in the end of Roman rule and the establishment of Germanic kingdoms, marking the beginning of the Middle Ages in Spain.
The joint rule of Isabella I and Ferdinand II is historiographically considered the foundation of a unified Spain. The conquest of Granada, and the first voyage of Columbus, both in 1492, made that year a critical inflection point in Spanish history. The same year saw the expulsion of Spain's Jews and the conversion of many others to Christianity. In the subsequent decades, the voyages of the explorers and conquistadors of Spain helped establish a Spanish colonial empire which was among the largest ever. King Charles I established the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Under his son Philip II the Spanish Golden Age flourished, the Spanish Empire reached its territorial and economic peak, and his palace at El Escorial became the center of artistic flourishing. However, Philip's rule also saw the destruction of the Spanish Armada, a number of state bankruptcies and the independence of the Northern Netherlands, which marked the beginning of the slow decline of Spanish influence in Europe. Spain's power was further tested by its participation in the Eighty Years' War, whereby it tried and failed to recapture the newly independent Dutch Republic, and the Thirty Years' War, which resulted in continued decline of Habsburg power in favor of the French Bourbon dynasty. Matters came to a head with the death of the last Habsburg ruler Charles II of Spain; the War of the Spanish Succession broke out between two European alliances led by the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs, for the control of the Spanish throne. The Bourbons prevailed, resulting in the ascension of Philip V of Spain, who took Spain into various wars and eventually recaptured the territories in southern Italy that had been lost in the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain's late entry into the Seven Years' War was the result of fear of the growing successes of the British at the expense of the French, but Spanish forces suffered major defeats. Motivated by this and earlier setbacks during Bourbon rule, Spanish institutions underwent a period of reform, especially under Charles III, that culminated in Spain's largely successful involvement in the American War of Independence. (Full article...)
From the mid-17th century, European politics were increasingly dominated by the Kingdom of France of Louis XIV, where royal power was solidified domestically in the civil war of the Fronde. The semi-feudal territorial French nobility was weakened and subjugated to the power of an absolute monarchy through the reinvention of the Palace of Versailles from a hunting lodge to a gilded prison, in which a greatly expanded royal court could be more easily kept under surveillance. With domestic peace assured, Louis XIV caused the borders of France to be expanded. It was during this century that the English monarch became increasingly involved in conflicts with the Parliament, which would culminate in the English civil war and an end to the dominance of the English monarchy. (Full article...)
Throughout this period, France underwent significant transformations that reshaped its geography, demographics, language, and economic landscape, marking a period of profound change and development. The French Revolution and Napoleonic eras fundamentally altered French society, promoting centralization, administrative uniformity across departments, and a standardized legal code. Education also centralized, emphasizing technical training and meritocracy, despite growing conservatism among the aristocracy and the church. Wealth concentration saw the richest 10 percent owning most of the nation's wealth. The 19th century saw France expanding to nearly its modern territorial limits through annexations and overseas imperialism, notably in Algeria, Indochina, and Africa. Despite territorial gains, France faced challenges, including a slow population growth, compared to its European neighbors, and a late industrialization that saw a shift from rural to urban living and the rise of an industrial workforce. The loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War further fueled nationalistic sentiments and set the stage for future conflicts.
The period was also marked by significant linguistic and educational reforms, which sought to unify the country through language and secular education, contributing to a stronger national identity. Economically, France struggled to match the industrial growth rates of other advanced nations, maintaining a more traditional economy longer than its counterparts. Politically, the century was characterized by the end of the ancien régime, the rise and fall of the First and Second Empires, the tumultuous establishment of the Third Republic, and the radical experiment of the Paris Commune, reflecting the ongoing struggle between revolutionary ideals and conservative restoration. The Third Republic embarked on modernizing France, with educational reforms and attempts to create a unified national identity. Foreign policy focused on isolation of Germany and forming alliances, leading to the Triple Entente. Domestically, issues like the Dreyfus affair highlighted the nation's divisions, while laws aimed at reducing the Catholic Church's influence sparked further controversy. (Full article...)
From 1911 until the establishment of a unified colony in 1934, the territory of the two colonies was sometimes referred to as "Italian Libya" or Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI). Both names were also used after the unification, with Italian Libya becoming the official name of the newly combined colony. Through its history, various infrastructure projects, most notably roads, railways and villages were set up, as well as archeology. It had a population of around 150,000 Italians.
The Italian colonies of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were taken by Italy from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, and run by Italian governors. In 1923, indigenous rebels associated with the Senussi Order organized the Libyan resistance movement against Italian settlement in Libya, mainly in Cyrenaica. The rebellion was put down by Italian forces in 1932, after the pacification campaign, which resulted in the deaths of a quarter of Cyrenaica's population. In 1934, the colonies were unified by governor Italo Balbo, with Tripoli as the capital. In 1937, the colony was divided into four provinces, and two years later the coastal provinces became a part of metropolitan Italy as the Fourth Shore. (Full article...)
The political situation was radically transformed in the early 1990s due to two major shocks: the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the wide-reaching Tangentopoli corruption scandal from 1992 to 1994. The former caused the dissolution and split of the PCI and splintering of the opposition, while the latter led to the collapse of nearly every established political party in Italy, including Christian Democracy, the PSI, PSDI, PRI, PLI, and others. Anti-establishment sentiment resulted in a 1993 referendum enabling the reform of the electoral system from pure proportional representation to a majoritarian-leaning mixed system. (Full article...)
The 18th century in Spanish historiography is often referred to as Bourbon Spain, but this label can be misleading as the Spanish Bourbons returned from exile to reign from 1814 to 1868 (following the restoration), from 1874 to 1931, and since 1975. (Full article...)
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A soldier in London browses social media during 2012: use of the internet and computerised technology has expanded from a rare novelty in the 1970s to being ubiquitous in almost all aspects of life today.
The social history of the United Kingdom (1979–present) began with Conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (1979–1990) entering government and rejecting the post-war consensus in the 1980s. She privatised most state-owned industries and worked to weaken the power and influence of the trade unions. The party remained in government throughout most of the 1990s albeit with growing internal difficulties under the leadership of Prime Minister John Major (1990–1997).
The "New Labour" premiership of Tony Blair (1997–2007) accepted many of Thatcher's economic policies, but he presided over a period of relative economic prosperity. Hong Kong, the most prosperous and the last significant overseas territory was handed back to China in 1997, ending 156 years of British rule and the symbolic end of the empire. Blair's government grew unpopular after 2002, in part due to Britain's participation in the war on terror and, most controversially, the Iraq War. The brief premiership of Gordon Brown (2007–2010) was predominantly defined by a series of crises including the 2008 financial crisis and its consequences.
The political situation was radically transformed in the early 1990s due to two major shocks: the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the wide-reaching Tangentopoli corruption scandal from 1992 to 1994. The former caused the dissolution and split of the PCI and splintering of the opposition, while the latter led to the collapse of nearly every established political party in Italy, including Christian Democracy, the PSI, PSDI, PRI, PLI, and others. Anti-establishment sentiment resulted in a 1993 referendum enabling the reform of the electoral system from pure proportional representation to a majoritarian-leaning mixed system. (Full article...)
The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The First Industrial Revolution, which ended in the middle of the 19th century, was punctuated by a slowdown in important inventions before the Second Industrial Revolution started in 1870. Though a number of its events can be traced to earlier innovations in manufacturing, such as the establishment of a machine tool industry, the development of methods for manufacturing interchangeable parts, as well as the invention of the Bessemer process and open hearth furnace to produce steel, later developments heralded the Second Industrial Revolution, which is generally dated between 1870 and 1914 when World War I commenced.
Advancements in manufacturing and production technology enabled the widespread adoption of technological systems such as telegraph and railroad networks, gas and water supply, and sewage systems, which had earlier been limited to a few select cities. The enormous expansion of rail and telegraph lines after 1870 allowed unprecedented movement of people and ideas, which culminated in a new wave of colonialism and globalization. In the same time period, new technological systems were introduced, most significantly electrical power and telephones. The Second Industrial Revolution continued into the 20th century with early factory electrification and the production line; it ended at the beginning of World War I.
The royal Bourbons originated in 1272, when Robert, the youngest son of King Louis IX of France, married the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon. The house continued for three centuries as a cadet branch, serving as nobles under the direct Capetian and Valois kings.
The senior line of the House of Bourbon became extinct in the male line in 1527 with the death of Duke Charles III of Bourbon. This made the junior Bourbon-Vendôme branch the genealogically senior branch of the House of Bourbon. In 1589, at the death of Henry III of France, the House of Valois became extinct in the male line. Under the Salic law, the head of the House of Bourbon, as the senior representative of the senior-surviving branch of the Capetian dynasty (first prince of the blood), became King of France as Henry IV. Bourbon monarchs then united to France the part of the Kingdom of Navarre north of the Pyrenees, which Henry's father had acquired by marriage in 1555, ruling both until the 1792 overthrow of the monarchy during the French Revolution. Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, the senior line of the Bourbons was finally overthrown in the July Revolution of 1830. A cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years (1830–1848), until it too was overthrown during the French Revolution of 1848. (Full article...)
Image 10A stamp commemorating Alexander Fleming. His discovery of penicillin changed the world of medicine by introducing the age of antibiotics. (from 20th century)
Image 16The 20th century saw an explosive increase in human population, rising from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 6 billion by 2000, with the Green Revolution (mid-20th century) being a key factor (from 20th century)
Image 22The international community grew in the second half of the century significantly due to a new wave of decolonization, particularly in Africa. Most of the newly independent states, were grouped together with many other so called developing countries. Developing countries gained attention, particularly due to rapid population growth, leading to a record world population of nearly 7 billion people by the end of the century. (from 20th century)
Image 33Oil field in California, US, in 1938. The first modern oil well is drilled in 1848 by the Russian engineer F.N. Semyonov, on the Apsheron Peninsula north-east of Baku. (from 20th century)
The history of Spain dates to contact between the pre-Roman peoples of the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula with the Greeks and Phoenicians. During Classical Antiquity, the peninsula was the site of multiple successive colonizations of Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans. Native peoples of the peninsula, such as the Tartessos, intermingled with the colonizers to create a uniquely Iberian culture. The Romans referred to the entire peninsula as Hispania, from which the name "Spain" originates. As was the rest of the Western Roman Empire, Spain was subject to numerous invasions of Germanic tribes during the 4th and 5th centuries AD, resulting in the end of Roman rule and the establishment of Germanic kingdoms, marking the beginning of the Middle Ages in Spain.
Decolonization of the British Empire in Africa. (from Contemporary history)
Dutch colonial officer with Papuans in the Baliem Valley, Dutch New Guinea, 1958 (from 20th century)
First flight of the Wright brothers' Wright Flyer on q7 December 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, US; Orville piloting with Wilbur running at wingtip. (from 20th century)
In 1924, Edwin Hubble announced that the Andromeda Nebula is actually a galaxy and that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies in the universe. (from 20th century)
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was the Shia cleric who led the 1979 Iranian Revolution, overthrowing the Shah and establishing Iran as an Islamic Republic. (from 20th century)
Earthrise, taken on 24 December 1968 by the American astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 space mission. It is the first photograph taken of Earth from lunar orbit. (from 20th century)
The Beatles in 1964, widely regarded as one of the most influential bands in Western popular music. (from 20th century)
A stamp commemorating Alexander Fleming. His discovery of penicillin changed the world of medicine by introducing the age of antibiotics. (from 20th century)
Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 (from 20th century)
Martin Luther King Jr., an African American civil rights movement leader (Washington, August 1963) (from 20th century)
The mushroom cloud of the detonation of Little Boy, the first nuclear attack in history, on 6 August 1945 over Hiroshima, igniting the nuclear age with the international security dominating thread of mutual assured destruction in the latter half of the 20th century. (from 20th century)
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was a major factor contributing to the Great Depression (from 20th century)
The 20th century saw an explosive increase in human population, rising from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 6 billion by 2000, with the Green Revolution (mid-20th century) being a key factor (from 20th century)
The Empire State Building is an iconic building of the 1930s. (from 20th century)
Hong Kong, under British administration from 1842 to 1997, is one of the original Four Asian Tigers. (from 20th century)
The international community grew in the second half of the century significantly due to a new wave of decolonization, particularly in Africa. Most of the newly independent states, were grouped together with many other so called developing countries. Developing countries gained attention, particularly due to rapid population growth, leading to a record world population of nearly 7 billion people by the end of the century. (from 20th century)
The Blue Marble, Earth as seen from Apollo 17 in December 1972. The photograph is taken by LMP Harrison Schmitt. The second half of the 20th century saw humanity's first space exploration. (from 20th century)
World powers and empires in 1914, just before the First World War.(from 20th century)
The Siege of Leningrad during World War II is widely considered one of the most lethal sieges in history (from 20th century)
A visualization of the various routes through a portion of the Internet. Partial map of the Internet based in 2005 (from Contemporary history)
Map of territorial changes in Europe after World War I (as of 1923). (from 20th century)
The division of Europe during the Cold War (from Contemporary history)
Countries by real GDP growth rate in 2014. (Countries in brown were in recession.) (from Contemporary history)
Photograph of the American astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the first moonwalk in 1969, taken by Neil Armstrong. The relatively young aerospace engineering industries rapidly grew in the 66 years after the Wright brothers' first flight. (from 20th century)
Oil field in California, US, in 1938. The first modern oil well is drilled in 1848 by the Russian engineer F.N. Semyonov, on the Apsheron Peninsula north-east of Baku. (from 20th century)
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